CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered a private hospital, specialised in treating infertility issues, and its doctors to pay a compensation of Rs 40 lakh to a victim of botched surgery which left her suffer with permanent disability.
Justice G Chandrasekharan, in a recent verdict on a plaint filed by the victim Flora Madiazagane, a Sri Lankan national, ordered payment of the compensation with 12% annual interest from the date (2014) of filing the plaint till the date of issuing the decree (Jan. 2023), and 6 % interest from the date of decree to the date of disbursal of the amount to the victim.
Flora Madiazagane, 43 years then, flew down from France and was admitted to the GG Hospital in Chennai in 2013 for treatment of infertility. After initial tests, she was advised to undergo a laparoscopic surgery and Adhesiolysis surgery to remove a fibroid from her uterus. However, the surgical procedure, held on May 14, 2013, resulted in damaging her sigmoid colon with a perforation.
Without the relatives’ consent, the hospital performed a second surgery on her on May 18, 2013, citing that faeces was coming through a hole in the abdomen. When the second surgery led to further complications, she was rushed to Apollo First Med Hospital where the doctors revealed the puncture suffered on the sigmoid colon.
As a result of the corrective and repair surgery and treatment, she was left to live permanently with a colostomy bag to collect the faeces. Justice Chandrasekharan said, “These repeated surgeries had affected the plaintiff’s health, causing her lot of pain and untold sufferings during the period of treatment. Possibly, plaintiff could never give birth to a child again. She also suffered other disabilities due to repeated surgeries.”